We are not equal!

If you give a good idea to mediocre team, they´ll screw it up. But if you give a mediocre idea to a great team they´ll make it work. — Ed Cutmull in How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity.

First let me make one point absolutely clear – I truly believe that we have all the same rights, that every human on this earth has to be treated as human in the same way despite his religious beliefs, his nationality, his class or his color.

But – we are not equal. We have different skills, we have different beliefs, we have different capabilities, we have motivations, and we have different intelligence. The reasons are so numerous that it is useless to talk about them

We need to accept this, as ScrumMasters as managers and as people. We do need to treat people differently. We need to give everybody what he/she needs to be able to reach their peak performance and we need to build on their strengths.

And we need to react, if a team does not come up with the results we need. That is something you can really learn from Cutmill.

One response to “We are not equal!”

Agreed that’s the idea. But is it realistic that a Sprint team can find it’s own velocity?
If the team is mediocre and maybe not starting to screw it up but not delivering the velocity wanted, a Manager or a Scrum Master might replace some team members with more senior persons.
I also love this article, but it describes more than just a desireable approach. It reflects also some short comings, where the goals and requirements are more important than the team.
But anyway, the work there is probably better and more congruent than many other companies.